Potentially, New Items Coming In The Future

  Don't be concerned about my leaving the soap industry to go and make toys and bread! Oma's Workshop will continue to make goat's milk oatmeal soap as well as all the others. But there will be some other items added to the menu here.

   Months ago, I planted several tomato, pepper, and other fruits and vegetable plants, with the thought that I could use the produce and sell or give away what was excess. We haven't had any excess yet, and the plants are very slow to grow and develop. In fact, some have died. So, at this  moment, there will not be any produce for sale. The plants are being grown organically, and some are even growing in the hydroponic system. I plan to sell the produce that will one day come, for $2 a pound. I will let you know when the produce comes in, or at least when there is enough to sell. I will call my gardens, 'Oma's Mini Acres".

  I have been baking in the past, so the baking part of it is not so new. But I will add it to the Oma's Workshop menu and see if anyone wants to order some cinnamon loaf bread or gingerbread man cookies. Also, I have some special chocolate chip (or variety chip) cookies that I can make. I can make either the regular version, which contains very good ingredients or I can specialize and use organic ingredients in these items. The organic items will be more expensive than the regular ones, as organic food is more expensive, unfortunately. But I think organic is the best anyway, so it is worth it to me. Regular cinnamon bread loaves will sell for $2 a loaf, while organic will be $3 a loaf. Gingerbread man cookies will sell for 50 cents and the ones made with organic ingredients will be 75 cents each. (Prices could change if I calculate the price of the ingredients and divide per cookie.).

  Last but not least, I am so excited to announce the making and selling of dollhouse items, also known as miniatures. I know there are people who collect miniatures as well as those who are building doll houses and adding to them over time. I have so many ideas and want to sort them out so I don't become overwhelmed or just going from making one item and then another, leaving several projects undone (which I have been known to do). I also want to build doll house rooms with flooring and walls. Right now, I am researching the materials and watching/reading tutorials on how to do all this. This could be an all consuming project, and I want to make a good product, so it will not come overnight. But I will post pics as soon as I finish them.

  Oops. I completely forgot the jewelry line I was working on. I'm learning how to make necklaces, earrings, and bracelets. I have some already made.

   My memorable jewelry story comes around the time I was pregnant with my son, about 22, 23 years ago. I was making some earrings out of something called 'friendly plastic' (I wonder what ever happened to this wonderful product) while my daughter came up with a pretty earring made with a little coin shaped piece. We got a lot of our materials from a local craft store and put out the goods on the day of the craft show. I don't think I sold any earrings, but all the earrings made by my daughter sold like hot cakes! People would look at her earrings and comment positively on them! Mine didn't even get noticed. Oh well. I will go for more beaded items next time.

  I do have some afghans available too. I will sell them at $65 each. The newer ones will be a little more pricy.

Yummy Lemony Soap

Yesterday, I made goat's milk oatmeal soap. The goat's milk oatmeal soap is under the category of 'Soaps For Life at Oma's Workshop', which simply means that a portion of the money made from this soap goes toward 'Sanctuary Ministries' which is a ministry that assists struggling women who are pregnant and have chosen to go through the pregnancy instead of having their babies murdered. Also the sheep's milk oatmeal soap is in the 'Soaps For Life at Oma's Workshop' category.

Tonight I made lemon soap. Last year, I made this lemon soap but was disappointed because the scent did not stay in the soap for long. This year, I used another type of oil, lemongrass, which should stick much longer.

  Last year when I made this soap, it turned out very pretty. The soap itself is yellow, but the lemon rinds turned orange as the soap was curing. It looks like the lemon rinds are turning orange in this batch. It should be a successful batch of soap that will smell really nice and will look pretty as well.

Lemon Scrubby Soap

Last year I saw a picture of lemon soap and found a recipe for this kind of soap. In the soap, I used lemon oil. It had a very nice, clean smell to it, and because I used the rinds (grated up) in the soap, it turned out like a scrubby soap. All the lemon rinds settled on the bottom of the mold and made a natural scrubby on one side of the bar.

  Unfortunately, the soap did not hold it's scent. Using essential oils that are made from citrus does not make a nice. long lasting bar of scented soap. But, the good news is that I have heard that Lemongrass oil holds the scent better. I ordered some and have used it a couple of times.

   I am going to pull a lemon off my lemon tree and grate the lemon rinds up and will use them in the soap after they are dried.

   Lemon soap is really cool.